AN: Sorry for the wait. I never had time and I just couldn't make myself sit down and write.
Remember, I don't own The Black Donnellys.
Brigit shot up when she heard her front door open. In this neighborhood nowadays, that probably was not the best sign.
But a good sign was when she heard whoever it was take his or her shoes off – a burglar would definitely not be so courteous. It had to be Kevin.
She had a choice: she could forgive and forget or she could remain mad at him for earlier. She knew that both would be hard because she was angry that Kevin put himself in harm's way but she also knew it was to help a brother. She was going to have to mix both approaches.
The door creaked open and soon she felt the bed sink a little.
"I hope you're in here to get a pillow because you're sleeping on the couch until I say otherwise."
Kevin froze as he was half way into a comfortable sleeping position.
"Aw, come on, Bri, you can't seriously be mad at me!"
She quickly hid her smile at the sound of his voice and looked over her shoulder before quickly turning away.
"Look, you didn't even bring me flowers to say you're sorry! What a crappy boyfriend you are!"
"I brought myself home, isn't that good enough?"
This time she turned completely around to face him.
"That depends on what you can do."
He smirked before leaning down and capturing her lips with his. He thought it would work since it usually did – and if he had been able to continue a moment longer it just might have – but she pushed him away.
"Oh, I can get that from anyone!" she said dramatically.
"But do you want it from anyone else?"
She grinned up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, shaking her head and pulling him in closer.
Brigit quickly got ready for work when she realized she had slept right through her alarm. It was times like these she was thankful she had to wear scrubs – she didn't have to sit in front of her closet and wonder what went together.
She scribbled a quick note for Kevin and kissed him on the forehead before rushing off to work.
After punching in, she sat down at the nurses' station to see who see had to see and what she had to do.
"Hey Brigit, the lab called, they said they had your results in," Maria, another nurse, said while raising an eyebrow.
Brigit almost dropped the files in her hands. With everything going on she had completely forgotten she had sent her blood down to be checked out.
She didn't want the results. She wasn't ready to hear whatever the lab tech had to say. Truths be told, she was scared.
So she checked on her patients and helped some residents with a couple of things before it finally caught up with her. She couldn't focus unless she knew so she told some of the other nurses she was going on break before heading down towards the lab.
After a deep breath, she approached the window.
"Name?"
"Murphy, Brigit. I sent blood work down to be checked for–"
Before she could finish her sentence the paper was in her hands and the tech was back to his other tests. She tried to read every word but couldn't help but skim down to where her answer would be.
"You double checked this, right? It's not a–"
The clerk cut her off again as he glared at her, "Of course I did. It's my job, you know."
Forcing herself to smile, she nodded and walked back toward the elevator, staring at the paper.
She was pregnant.
A plate of pancakes and sausage was set down on the counter of Riley's Diner at the same time every morning for the same person.
Most morning though, Brigit would thank Jenny profusely for the meal, thankful to get something decent into her stomach but this morning Brigit could barely mutter one 'thank you.'
Normally Jenny would wave the praise off but this morning there wasn't anything to deflect. She leaned against the counter as Brigit smothered her pancakes in syrup.
"What's wrong with you?"
Brigit waited until she had fully swallowed her first bite before answering, "Do you think Kevin is ready for married life?"
Jenny furrowed her eyebrows together. She had to admit that it would be nice to deal with someone else's problems other than her own with Tommy or with the Diner.
"With anyone else, I'd say no, but with you, he's more than ready. Why?"
Brigit pushed her pancake around the plate, trying to see if it could absorb anymore syrup before she had to answer.
"Brigit?"
Brigit sighed, "Do you think he's ready to be a father?"
Again, Jenny was taken aback, "Uh... I don't know, maybe."
"That's pretty much a 'no'."
"Well I think you have some time to worry. I mean, are you planning on having kids right away?"
Brigit shot Jenny a look, "No, I wasn't planning on it, it just happened."
"Oh my God," Jenny covered her mouth, maybe to cover the shock, maybe to cover the smile.
Brigit pushed her plate away, her stomach wasn't feeling too good with all this news but Jenny pushed it back in front of her, "No, no, you're eating for two now."
Brigit rolled her eyes but continued eating, "I wanna be happy but I'm just too damned scared."
"Of how Kevin will react? Or how Kevin will turn out?"
"Both."
"Well, I don't know about the reaction but I think he'll turn out fine. Trust me, he isn't the kind that would run off on you."
Brigit smiled up at Jenny, hoping that the conversation hadn't brought up anything bad for her. Jenny had been through enough.
"So how are things with you and Tommy?"
Jenny wished she could avoid the question but knew she couldn't, "I'm not really sure. The Diner's in trouble and he knows and I told him we didn't need any help, even though we do, but knowing him, he's going to do something to try and help. The thing is, I'm scared of what he's going to do."
"He won't do anything stupid, don't worry."
Truth is, Brigit wasn't so sure about that. Normally Tommy was pretty level headed and he wouldn't do anything without thinking it through. But with Jenny in the equation, all bets were off.
Brigit finished her breakfast and paid before heading back to the apartment, hoping Kevin wasn't there. She didn't know if she could face him.
Kevin watched his brother Tommy walk out the door with more than two grand in his hand.
"Dude, what's the deal with this jerk? Why we lettin' him get away with this?" Whitey turned back to Kevin, "You let him get away with that?"
Whitey had barely finished his sentence when Kevin saw Jimmy smash his mug down on Whitey's head. Kevin grabbed the empty bug beside him and threw it down towards Whitey as well. No one insulted a Donnelly and got off scott free.
Joey got Jimmy another beer and a towel like Jimmy had ordered and though he wanted Whitey to stew, he figured it would be safer if he called someone over to make sure Whitey was all right.
And within ten minutes, Brigit barreled through the door to find Whitey still on the floor. Everyone's heads turned to see her.
Brigit put her hands on her hips, "What the fuck, Jimmy?! Is there ever a minute that goes by where you're not fucking hurting someone?!"
"Woah, how is this my fault?"
"Oh, I'm sure he bashed the glass against his own head! God, you are such an idiot."
She ignored the three men as she looked over the cuts on the man's head.
"By the way, I'm Whitey," he winced.
Brigit rolled her eyes, "Let's get something straight: I don't care who you are, I just care that you don't get these two idiots in trouble and that you don't bleed out. Plus, you're the ass who made these morons think they could run their own book so really, don't expect an invitation to the wedding or anything like that from me, okay?"
Whenever Jimmy or Kevin tried to defend themselves, Brigit shot them a look that told them to think otherwise. When she finished stitching Whitey's head, she told him to go to a hospital soon to get them removed before she left as quickly as she came.
But this time she had someone following her – Kevin.
"Bri, wait up! Come on, let me explain! He insulted Tommy. I had to defend my brother!"
Brigit turned around, "Well, that's just fine and dandy then, isn't it? Kevin, you've got to stop doing such stupid things! There are other people here – other than your brothers – that matter!"
"Hey, I've defended you plenty of times. You know you matter to me!"
"Kevin, I'm not talking about me anymore," she said as she turned and continued walking towards her apartment.
Kevin watched her, dumbfounded. He had no idea what she was talking about. Who else mattered other than his family and Brigit?
